Midnight train to Georgia

There has been an amateur hour quality to the campaign of Herman Cain for the GOP presidential nomination. That makes sense because Cain is a political amateur. In the latest installment of the perils of Herman, one Ginger White of Atlanta has acknowledged a 13-year affair with Mr. Cain. The details of her story are persuasive. Cain’s denial to CNN is on the lame side:

“It is someone that I know who is an acquaintance that I thought was a friend,” Cain said. But he added, “I did not have an affair.”

“I acknowledge that I knew the woman,” he said. “I acknowledge that I have known her for about that period of time. But the accusation that I had a 13-year affair with her, no.”

When it comes to pulling the plug on the campaign, Mr. Cain is says that he is ceding the call to the Missus:

He said his wife’s immediate reaction upon hearing of the accusation was, “Here we go again.” And he said he had no plans to drop out of the race — “Not as long as my wife is behind me and as long as my wife believes I should stay in this race.”

So I guess we’ll know when he’s really in trouble at home.

Cain subsequently issued a statement that verges on the pathetic, or crosses the line right over into it: “I will not fight false claims as it is not what America needs or wants.” I’m not sure he has his finger on the pulse of America at this point. I am quite confident that we want to fight false claims and that we want someone who is able to do so.

His statement continued:

“The American public is tired of dirty politics and smear tactics as evident of their tremendous outpouring of support for me, my family and my campaign this past month,” he said.

“I am running for president of the United States of America, and the reality is that there are individuals out there that favor the status quo of higher taxes, more government and political cronyism and they are afraid of a Cain presidency.”

My worry list is very long, but I can say that one of the few items not on it is a Cain presidency.